Abstract
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) field presents not only a landscape of theories but also a proliferation of approaches, which are controversial, complex and unclear. This article tries to clarify the situation, “mapping the territory” by classifying the main CSR theories and related approaches in four groups: (1) instrumental theories, in which the corporation is seen as only an instrument for wealth creation, and its social activities are only a means to achieve economic results; (2) political theories, which concern themselves with the power of corporations in society and a responsible use of this power in the political arena; (3) integrative theories, in which the corporation is focused on the satisfaction of social demands; and (4) ethical theories, based on ethical responsibilities of corporations to society. In practice, each CSR theory presents four dimensions related to profits, political performance, social demands and ethical values. The findings suggest the necessity to develop a new theory on the business and society relationship, which should integrate these four dimensions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Ackerman, R.W. 1973. How companies respond to social demands. Harvard University Review 51(4): 88–98.
Ackerman, R., and R. Bauer. 1976. Corporate social responsiveness. Virginia: Reston.
Agle, B.R., and R.K. Mitchell. 1999. Who matters to CEOs? An investigation of stakeholder attributes and salience, corporate performance and CEO values. Academy of Management journal 42(5): 507–526.
Alford, H., and M. Naugthon. 2002. Beyond the shareholder model of the firm: Working toward the common good of a business. In Rethinking the purpose of business. Interdisciplinary essays from the catholic social tradition, ed. S.A. Cortright and M. Naugthon, 27–47. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press.
Altman, B.W. 1998. Corporate community relations in the 1990s: A study in transformation. Business and Society 37(2): 221–228.
Altman, B.W., and D. Vidaver-Cohen. 2000. Corporate citizenship in the new millennium: Foundation for an architecture of excellence. Business and Society Review 105(1): 145–169.
Andriof, J., and M. McIntosh (eds.). 2001. Perspectives on corporate citizenship. Sheffield: Greenleaf.
Andrioff, J. 2001. Patterns of stakeholder partnership building. In Perspectives on corporate citizenship, ed. J. Andriof and M. McIntosh, 200–213. Sheffield: Greenleaf.
Argandoña, A. 1998. The stakeholder theory and the common good. Journal of Business Ethics 17: 1093–1102.
Barney, J. 1991. Firm resource and sustained competitive advantage. Journal of Management 17: 99–120.
Bendheim, C.L., S.A. Waddock, and S.B. Graves. 1998. Determining best practice in corporate-stakeholder relations using data envelopment analysis. Business and Society 37(3): 306–339.
Berman, S.L., A.C. Wicks, S. Kotha, and T.M. Jones. 1999. Does stakeholder orientation matter? The relationship between stakeholder management models and the firm financial performance. Academy of Management journal 42(5): 488–509.
Bowen, H.R. 1953. Social responsibilities of the businessman. New York: Harper & Row.
Bowie, N. 1991. New directions in corporate social responsibility. Business Horizons 34(4): 56–66.
Bowie, N. 1998. A Kantian theory of capitalism. Special issue, Ruffin series, Business Ethics Quarterly, no. 1: 37–60.
Brandy, F.N. 1990. Ethical managing: Rules and results. London: Macmillan.
Brewer, T.L. 1992. An issue area approach to the analysis of MNE-government relations. Journal of International Business Studies 23: 295–309.
Brummer, J. 1991. Corporate responsibility and legitimacy. New York: Greenwood Press.
Burke, L., and J.M. Logsdon. 1996. How corporate social responsibility pays off. Long Range Planning 29(4): 495–503.
Burton, B.K., and C.P. Dunn. 1996. Feminist ethics as moral grounding for stakeholder theory. Business Ethics Quarterly 6(2): 133–147.
Carey, J.B. 2001. The common good in catholic social thought. St. John’s Law Review 75(2): 311–313.
Carroll, A.B. 1979. A three-dimensional conceptual model of corporate performance. Academy of Management Review 4(4): 497–505.
Carroll, A.B. 1991. The pyramid of corporate social responsibility: Towards the moral management of organizational stakeholders, Business Horizons, July/August, 39–48.
Carroll, A.B. 1994. Social issues in management research. Business and Society 33(1): 5–25.
Carroll, A.B. 1999. Corporate social responsibility. Evolution of definitional construct. Business and Society 38(3): 268–295.
Carroll, A.B., and A.K. Buchholtz. 2002. Business and society with infotrac: Ethics and stakeholder management, vol. 5. Cincinnati: South-Western.
Cassel, D. 2001. Human rights business responsibilities in the global marketplace. Business Ethics Quarterly 11(2): 261–274.
Christensen, C.M., and M. Overdorf. 2000. Meeting the challenge of disruptive change. Harvard Business Review 78(2): 66–75.
Christensen, C., T. Craig, and S. Hart. 2001. The great disruption. Foreign Affairs 80(2): 80–96.
Davis, K. 1960. Can business afford to ignore corporate social responsibilities? California Management Review 2: 70–76.
Davis, K. 1967. Understanding the social responsibility puzzle. Business Horizons 10(4): 45–51.
Davis, K. 1973. The case for and against business assumption of social responsibilities. Academy of Management journal 16: 312–322.
Dion, M. 2001. Corporate citizenship and ethics of care: Corporate values, codes of ethics and global governance. In Perspectives on corporate citizenship, ed. J. Andriof and M. McIntosh, 118–138. Sheffield: Greenleaf.
Donaldson, T. 1982. Corporations and morality. Englewood Cliff: Prentice-Hall.
Donaldson, T., and T.W. Dunfee. 1994. Towards a unified conception of business ethics: Integrative social contracts theory. Academy of Management Review 19: 252–284.
Donaldson, T., and T.W. Dunfee. 1999. Ties that bind: A social contracts approach to business ethics. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
Donaldson, T., and T.W. Dunfee. 2000. Precis for ties that bind. Business and Society 105(Winter): 436–444.
Donaldson, T., and L.E. Preston. 1995. The stakeholder theory of the corporation: Concepts, evidence, and implications. Academy of Management Review 20(1): 65–91.
Donati, P. 1991. Teoria relazionale della societa. Milano: Franco Agnelli.
Donnelly, J. 1985. The concept of human rights. London: Croom Helm.
Emshoff, J.R., and R.E. Freeman. 1978. Stakeholder management. Working Paper from the Wharton Applied Research Center Quly. Quoted by Sturdivant (1979).
Etzioni, A. 1988. The moral dimension. Towards a new economics. New York: The Free Press.
Evan, W.M., and R.E. Freeman. 1988. A stakeholder theory of the modern corporation: Kantian capitalism. In Ethical theory and business, ed. T. Beauchamp and N. Bowie, 75–93. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs.
Fort, T.L. 1996. Business as mediating institutions. Business Ethics Quarterly 6(2): 149–164.
Fort, T.L. 1999. The first man and the company man: The common good, transcendence, and mediating institutions. American Business Law Journal 36(3): 391–435.
Frederick, W.C. 1987. Theories of corporate social performance. In Business and society: Dimensions of conflict and cooperation, ed. S.P. Sethi and C.M. Flabe, 142–161. New York: Lexington Books.
Frederick, W.C. 1992. Anchoring values in nature: Towards a theory of business values. Business Ethics Quarterly 2(3): 283–304.
Frederick, W.C. 1998. Moving to CSR4. Business and Society 37(1): 40–60.
Freeman, R.E. 1984. Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
Freeman, R.E. 1994. The politics of stakeholder theory: Some future directions. Business Ethics Quarterly 4(4): 409–429.
Freeman, R.E., and W.M. Evan. 1990. Corporate governance: A stakeholder interpretation. Journal of Behavioral Economics 19(4): 337–359.
Freeman, R.E., and R.A. Phillips. 2002. Stakeholder theory: A libertarian defence. Business Ethics Quarterly 12(3): 331–349.
Friedman, M. 1970. The social responsibility of business is to increase its profits. New York Times Magazine, September 13th, 32–33, 122, 126.
Friedman, M., and R. Friedman. 1962. Capitalism and freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Frooman, J. 1997. Socially irresponsible and illegal behavior and shareholder. Business and Society 36(3): 221–250.
Gladwin, T.N., and J.J. Kennelly. 1995. Shifting paradigms for sustainable development: Implications for management theory and research. Academy of Management Review 20(4): 874–904.
Goodpaster, K.E. 1999. Bridging East and West in management ethics: Kyosei and the moral point of view. In International business ethics. Challenges and approaches, ed. G. Enderle, 151–159. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Greening, D.W., and B. Gray. 1994. Testing a model of organizational response to social and political issues. Academy of Management journal 37: 467–498.
Griffin, J.J. 2000. Corporate social performance: Research directions for the 21st century. Business and Society 39(4): 479–493.
Griffin, J.J., and J.F. Mahon. 1997. The corporate social performance and corporate financial performance debate: Twenty-five years of incomparable research. Business and Society 36(1): 5–31.
Harrison, J.S., and C.H. St. John. 1996. Managing and partnering with external stakeholders. Academy of Management Executive 10(2): 46–61.
Hart, S.L. 1995. A natural-resource-based view of the firm. Academy of Management Review 20(4): 986–1012.
Hart, S.L., and C.M. Christensen. 2002. The great leap. Driving innovation from the base of the pyramid. MIT Sloan Management Review 44(1): 51–57.
Heald, M. 1988. The social responsibilities of business: Company and community, 1900–1960. New Brunswick: Transaction Books.
Hillman, A.J., and G.D. Keim. 2001. Shareholder value, stakeholder management, and social issues: What’s the bottom line. Strategic Management Journal 22(2): 125–140.
Husted, B.W., and D.B. Allen. 2000. Is it ethical to use ethics as strategy? Journal of Business Ethics 27(1–2): 21–32.
Jensen, M.C. 2000. Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. In Breaking the code of change, ed. M. Beer and N. Nohria, 37–58. Boston: Harvard Business School Press. Repr., (2002) as Value maximization, stakeholder theory, and the corporate objective function. Business Ethics Quarterly 12(2): 235–256.
Jensen, M.C., and W. Meckling. 1976. Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency cost, and capital structure. Journal of Financial Economics 3(October): 305–360.
Jones, T.M. 1980. Corporate social responsibility revisited, redefined. California Management Review 22(2): 59–67.
Jones, T.M. 1983. An integrating framework for research in business and society: A step toward the elusive paradigm? Academy of Management Review 8(4): 559–565.
Kaku, R. 1997. The path of Kyosei. Harvard Business Review 75(4): 55–62.
Kaptein, M., and R. Van Tulder. 2003. Toward effective stakeholder dialogue. Business and Society Review 108(Surmmer): 203–225.
Keim, G.D. 1978. Corporate social responsibility: An assessment of the enlightened self-interest model. Academy of Management Review 3(1): 32–40.
Kempshall, M.S. 1999. The common good in late medieval political thought. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Key, S., and S.J. Popkin. 1998. Integrating ethics into the strategic management process: Doing well by doing good. Management Decision 36(5–6): 331–339.
Leavitt, T. 1958. The dangers of social responsibility. Harvard Business Review 36(September–October): 41–50.
Litz, R.A. 1996. A resourced-based-view of the socially responsible firm: Stakeholder interdependence, ethical awareness, and issue responsiveness as strategic assets. Journal of Business Ethics 15: 1355–1363.
Mahon, J.F., and R.A. McGowan. 1991. Searching for the common good: A process-oriented approach. Business Horizons 34(4): 79–87.
Maritain, J. 1966. The person and the common good. Notre Dame: Notre Dame University Press.
Maritain, J. 1971. [c 1943], The rights of man and natural law. New York: Gordian Press.
Matten, D., and A. Crane. 2005. Corporate citizenship: Towards an extended theoretical conceptualization. Academy of Management Review 30(1): 166–179.
Matten, D., A. Crane, and W. Chapple. 2003. Behind the mask: Revealing the true face of corporate citizenship. Journal of Business Ethics 45(1–2): 109–120.
McMahon, T.F. 1986. Models of the relationship of the firm to society. Journal of Business Ethics 5: 181–191.
McWilliams, A., and D. Siegel. 2001. Corporate social responsibility: A theory of the firm perspective. Academy of Management Review 26(1): 117–127.
Melé, D. 2002. Not only stakeholder interests. The firm oriented toward the common good. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Mitchell, R.K., B.R. Agle, and D.J. Wood. 1997. Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. Academy of Management Review 22(4): 853–886.
Murray, K.B., and J.R. Montanan. 1986. Strategic management of the socially responsible firm: Integrating management and marketing theory. Academy of Management Review 11(4): 815–828.
Ogden, S., and R. Watson. 1999. Corporate performance and stakeholder management: Balancing shareholder and customer interests in the U.K. privatized water industry. Academy of Management Journal 42(5): 526–538.
Parsons, T. 1961. An outline of the social system. In Theories of society, ed. T. Parsons, E.A. Shils, K.D. Naegle, and J.R. Pitts. New York: Free Press.
Petrick, J., and J. Quinn. 2001. The challenge of leadership accountability for integrity capacity as a strategic asset. Journal of Business Ethics 34: 331–343.
Phillips, R.A. 1997. Stakeholder theory and a principle of fairness. Business Ethics Quarterly 7(1): 51–66.
Phillips, R.A. 2003. Stakeholder legitimacy. Business Ethics Quarterly 13(1): 25–41.
Phillips, R.A., E. Freeman, and A.C. Wicks. 2003. What stakeholder theory is not. Business Ethics Quarterly 13(1): 479–502.
Pope John Paul II. 1991. Encyclical ‘Centesimus Annus’. London: Catholic Truth Society, and www.vatican.va
Porter, M.E. 1980. Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and competitors. New York: Free Press.
Porter, M.E., and M.R. Kramer. 2002. The competitive advantage of corporate philanthropy. Harvard Business Review 80(12): 56–69.
Post, J.E., L.E. Preston, S. Sauter-Sachs, and S. Sachs. 2002. Redefining the corporation: Stakeholder management and organizational wealth. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Prahalad, C.K. 2002. Strategies for the bottom of the economic pyramid: India as a source of innovation. Reflections: The SOL Journal 3(4): 6–18.
Prahalad, C.K., and A. Hammond. 2002. Serving the world’s poor, profitably. Harvard Business Review 80(9): 48–58.
Preston, L.E. 1975. Corporation and society: The search for a paradigm. Journal of Economic Literature 13(2): 434–454.
Preston, L.E., and J.E. Post. 1975. Private management and public policy. In The principle of public responsibility. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Preston, L.E., and J.E. Post. 1981. Private management and public policy. California Management Review 23(3): 56–63.
Quinn, D.P., and T.M. Jones. 1995. An agent morality view of business policy. Academy of Management Review 20(1): 22–42.
Roman, R., S. Hayibor, and B.R. Agle. 1999. The relationship between social performance and financial performance. Business and Society 38(1): 109–125.
Ross, S. 1973. The economy theory of the agency: The principal’s problem. American Economic Review 63: 134–139.
Rowley, T.J. 1997. Moving beyond dyadic ties: A network theory of stakeholder influences. Academy of Management Review 22(4): 887–911.
Rowley, T., and S. Berman. 2000. New brand of corporate social performance. Business and Society 39(4): 397–412.
Schwartz, M.S., and A.B. Carroll. 2003. Corporate social responsibility: A three-domain approach. Business Ethics Quarterly 13(4): 503–530.
Sethi, S.P. 1975. Dimensions of corporate social performance: An analytical framework. California Management Review 17(3): 58–65.
Shrivastava, P. 1995. The role of corporations in achieving ecological sustainability. Academy of Management Review 20: 936–960.
Simon, Y.R. 1992 (1965). In The tradition of natural law. A philosopher’s reflections, ed. V. Kuic. New York: Fordham University Press
Smith, T.W. 1999. Aristotle on the conditions for and limits of the common good. American Political Science Review 93(3): 625–637.
Smith, W., and M. Higgins. 2000. Cause-related marketing: Ethics and the ecstatic. Business and Society 39(3): 304–322.
Solomon, R.C. 1992. Corporate roles, personal virtues: An Aristotelian approach to business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly 2(3): 317–340.
Stead, J.G., and E. Stead. 2000. Eco-enterprise strategy: Standing for sustainability. Journal of Business Ethics 24(4): 313–330.
Sturdivant, F.D. 1979. Executives and activist: Test of stakeholder management. California Management Review 22(Fall): 53–59.
Sulmasy, D.P. 2001. Four basic notions of the common good. St. John’s Law Review 75(2): 303–311.
Swanson, D.L. 1995. Addressing a theoretical problem by reorienting the corporate social performance model. Academy of Management Review 20(1): 43–64.
Swanson, D.L. 1999. Toward an integrative theory of business and society: A research strategy for corporate social performance. Academy of Management Review 24(3): 506–521.
Teece, D.J., G. Pisano, and A. Shuen. 1997. Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal 18(7): 509–533.
The Clarkson Center for Business Ethics. 1999. Principles of stakeholder management. Toronto: Joseph L. Rotman School of Management. Reprinted (2002) on, Business Ethics Quarterly 12(4), 257–264.
The Global Sullivan Principles. 1999. http://globalsullivanprinciples.org, September 2003.
Tichy, N.M., A.R. McGill, and L. St. Clair. 1997. Corporate global citizenship. San Francisco: The New Lexington Press.
Treviño, L.K., and G.R. Weaver. 1994. Normative and empirical business ethics. Business Ethics Quarterly 4(2): 129–143.
United Nations. 1999. Global compact. www.unglobalcompact.org
Van Marrewijk, M. 2003. Concept and definitions of CSR and corporate sustainability: Between agency and communion. Journal of Business Ethics 44: 95–105.
Van Marrewijk, M., and M. Werre. 2003. Multiple levels of corporate sustainability. Journal of Business Ethics 44(2/3): 107–120.
Varadarajan, P.R., and A. Menon. 1988. Cause-related marketing: A coalignment of marketing strategy and corporate philanthropy. Journal of Marketing 52(3): 58–58.
Velasquez, M. 1992. International business, morality and the common good. Business Ethics Quarterly 2(1): 27–40.
Vogel, D. 1986. The study of social issues in management: A critical appraisal. California Management Review 28(2): 142–152.
Votaw, D. 1972. Genius became rare: A comment on the doctrine of social responsibility Pt 1. California Management Review 15(2): 25–31.
Waddock, S.A., and S.B. Graves. 1997. The corporate social performance-financial performance link. Strategic Management Journal 18(4): 303–320.
Wartick, S., and P.L. Cochran. 1985. The evolution of corporate social performance model. Academy of Management Review 10(4): 758–769.
Wartick, S.L., and J.F. Mahon. 1994. Towards a substantive definition of the corporate issue construct: A review and synthesis of literature. Business and Society 33(3): 293–311.
Wartick, S.L., and R.E. Rude. 1986. Issues management: Corporate fad or corporate function? California Management Review 29(1): 124–132.
Weiss, J.W. 2003. Business ethics: A stakeholder and issues management approach, 3rd ed. Ohio: Thomson - South-Western.
Wernelfelt, B. 1984. A resource based view of the firm. Strategic Management Review 5: 171–180.
Wheeler, D., B. Colbert, and R.E. Freeman. 2003. Focusing on value: Reconciling corporate social responsibility, sustainability and a stakeholder approach in a network world. Journal of General Management 28(3): 1–29.
Wicks, A.C., D.R. Gilbert Jr., and R.E. Freeman. 1994. A feminist reinterpretation of the stake-holder concept. Business Ethics Quarterly 4(4): 475–497.
Wijnberg, N.M. 2000. Normative stakeholder theory and Aristotle: The link between ethics and politics. Journal of Business Ethics 25: 329–342.
Windsor, D. 2001. The future of corporate social responsibility. International Journal of Organizational Analysis 9(3): 225–256.
Wood, D.J. 1991a. Social issues in management: Theory and research in corporate social performance. Journal of Management 17(2): 383–406.
Wood, D.J. 1991b. Corporate social performance revisited. Academy of Management Review 16(4): 691–718.
Wood, D.J. and J.M. Lodgson. 2002. Business citizenship: From individuals to organizations. Ruffin series, no. 3, Business Ethics Quarterly, 59–94.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development. 2000. Corporate social responsibility: Making good business sense. Geneve: World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
World Commission on Environment and Development. 1987. Our common future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Yamaji, K. 1997. A global perspective of ethics in business. Business Ethics Quarterly 7(3): 55–71.
Zadek, S. 2001. Partnership alchemy: Engagement, innovation, and governance. In Perspectives on corporate citizenship, ed. J. Andriof and M. McIntosh, 200–212. Sheffield: Greenleaf.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Garriga, E., Melé, D. (2013). Corporate Social Responsibility Theories: Mapping the Territory. In: Michalos, A., Poff, D. (eds) Citation Classics from the Journal of Business Ethics. Advances in Business Ethics Research, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4126-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4126-3_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-007-4125-6
Online ISBN: 978-94-007-4126-3
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsBusiness and Management (R0)